Hot Docs Offers Free Screenings of Canadian Films & Videos

TORONTO: Hot Docs has unveiled a new Doc Library that features hundreds of Canadian films and videos available for free viewing at hotdocslibrary.ca.

All films are directed by filmmakers who works have been screened at Hot Docs. In addition to works by Canadian directors such as Jennifer Baichwal, Allan King, Nettie Wild, Avi Lewis, Serge Giguère, Jean-Daniel Lafond, Alan Zweig, Kevin McMahon, Shelley Saywell and John Haslett Cuff, the Doc Library also features a number of film-specific educational packages, short films by young filmmakers from Hot Docs’ Doc Camp and Doc It! showcase, a selection of National Film Board of Canada titles spanning the 1950s to the 1980s, knowledge capture videos of sessions with key industry professionals, archival City Lights interviews with Brian Linehan and Canadian film personalities, and specially curated selections by partner festivals Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montréal, imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival, Images Festival and Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival.

The Doc Library will include opportunities for user commentary, shared playlists and advanced searching, and will include links to filmmaker websites so that users can learn more and purchase works by the filmmakers.

"Hot Docs at its core is all about the sharing of outstanding documentaries and stories with eager audiences," said Hot Docs’ managing director, Brett Hendrie. "And with the new Doc Library we will be able to further this sharing while focusing in on stories that are uniquely Canadian, stories that are largely by Canadians for Canadians but are also relevant to the rest of the world. And we are able to share these remarkable stories with Canadians free of charge."